Bribery in international business

Uzbekistan should strengthen fight against corruption

12/03/2012 - Uzbekistan should step up its fight against corruption by bringing its laws into line with international standards and boosting integrity in the public sector, according to a new report by the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).

Finalising its 2008 anti-corruption programme is key, says the report. This would confirm the political will of Uzbekistan’s leadership to fight corruption and establish a set of clear measures and mechanisms to achieve this.

The report commends Uzbekistan for its recent efforts to raise awareness and educate public officials and university students on corruption, notably on the requirements of the UN Convention against Corruption. It highlights progress made in public procurement, including making procedures more transparent. To reduce opportunities for corruption, Uzbekistan has also taken steps to simplify business regulations.

But the report finds little evidence of progress in the criminalisation of corruption or increased integrity in the public sector.

To address these challenges, Uzbekistan should:

• Bring Uzbekistan’s criminal legislation into line with the UNCAC, including fully criminalising bribery, introducing liability of legal persons and enacting provisions on confiscation in the criminal law;
• Make greater use of surveys on corruption for the development and monitoring of implementation of anti-corruption strategy and make their results public;
• Adopt a law on special investigatory means in order to strengthen detection and investigation of corruption;
• Enact a public service law and adopt measures to prevent conflict of interest, require public officials to declare their assets;
• Improve integrity of judges and high-level and elected officials;

The IAP is an initiative launched in 2003 to support anti-corruption reform efforts in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as part of the OECD Working Group on Bribery outreach work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia under its regional initiative Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.